Fact finding team appointed to probe Dimapur incident; More illegal migrants pushed out from Manipur; IED blast in Imphal; PLA rebel arrested in Meghalaya; Normal life disrupted in Northeast due to bandh; Group of Ministers (GoM) and Bodoland Territorial
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    • Reports noted that the Nagaland Government has appointed a fact-finding committee to enquire into the incidents of mob violence and vandalism which took place in and around Dimapur and Chumukedima areas on September 1. The committee will enquire into the causes and circumstances leading to the incident, the person or group of persons responsible for the incident; whether the incident could have been avoided; whether there has been any instance of failure or dereliction of duty on the part of any public servant; and how such incidences may be avoided in future. The Committee will submit its report to the Government within 30 days from the date of issue of notification. The Chief Secretary informed that a high level damage assessment committee has also been constituted. The Committee will submit its report before September 10, 2012. 1
    In another development, according to reports, as many as hundred illegal migrants, who attempted to trespass into Manipur through the Manipur-Assam border at Jiribam, have been turned back during the last two days. Forty illegal migrants with fictitious documents and identity cards who attempted to enter Manipur were turned back from the Jiribam border check post, about 222 km west of Imphal. Earlier on September 1, 60 illegal migrants were also pushed back from the check post. The police supported by security personnel, have been on a drive against infiltration in the State in the past few days with massive combing operations being launched at different places. 2

    Meanwhile, reports noted that two security personnel were injured in a bomb blast triggered by suspected militants in the Manipur capital. A security alert has been sounded. The two Assam Rifles troopers were on routine patrolling on September 5 when the blast hit them in the Keisampat area, a few kilometres from the Manipur Police headquarters. Though no rebel group has claimed responsibility for the blasts, Manipur Police and intelligence officials said the blasts were carried out by rebels. 3
    According to reports, a top rebel of the outlawed People's Liberation Army of Manipur was arrested from eastern Meghalaya near the Bangladesh border. Athokpam Surchandra Singh, who holds the rank of lieutenant and Area Secretary of Imphal (West) Division of the PLA, was arrested late September 4 from Dawki area in Meghalaya's East Khasi Hills district. The rebel was apprehended while trying to infiltrate into Bangladesh from the Dawki border. It would be worth noting that Meghalaya shares a 443-km border with Bangladesh, part of which is porous, hilly, unfenced and prone to frequent infiltration. 4
    Reports noted that normal life was disrupted in Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh due to a 12-hour bandh called by the North East Students' Organisation on September 6 to protest harassment of students from the region in other parts of the country and influx of illegal migrants. Shops, markets, business establishments, government and private offices, banks and education institutions were mostly closed in the four states due to the bandh. 5

    According to reports, the Group of Ministers (GoM) and the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC), in their joint meeting held at Kokrajhar on September 6, decided to identify the villages of the 11,066 valid patta (land ownership document) holder families who are hit by the ethnic clashes in the Bodoland Territorial Administrative Districts (BTAD). The GoM is led by Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Prithivi Majhi. The identification of the villages of these families would be done by the officers and after completion of this identification process, these families would be rehabilitated in their respective villages within the next 15 to 30 days’ time. 6
    Reports noted that on September 8, Police fired in the air to disperse a mob protesting the damage to a place of worship and theft of ornaments worth Rs two lakh from there in Assam's Dhubri district. Police fired six rounds in the air at R K Mission Road in Dhubri as locals blocked the road, protesting the desecration of the worship place on September 7 night when curfew was in place in the town. 7
    In other developments, according to report, on September 6, the band called by North East Student Organisation (NESO) bandh turned violent in Dimapur when a fierce gun battle broke out between rival groups – NSCN (Khole-Kitovi) and NSCN (K) near Livingstone Higher Secondary School, Thahekhu village. In the heavy gun-battle that lasted for more than an hour, two NSCN (K) members sustained injuries. 8
    Reports noted that unidentified miscreants lobbed a grenade at a CRPF patrol party in the busy Paltan Bazar area of Guwahati on September 8, killing a CRPF jawan and injuring five others. According to police sources, the incident took place near the Paltan Bazar Police Station when a CRPF patrol party was doing its round in this busy city area. Investigations into the incident are on and only after completion of the same the police is expected to reveal the identity of the people behind this incident.9 Meanwhile, the hard-line faction of the ULFA has claimed the responsibility for the blast and warned that such attacks on security forces would continue. The ULFA also apologised for causing injury to innocent civilians in the blast. 10

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